Just the Rain
by Kysic
Summary: Memories refuse to stay buried in the back of Espio's mind. All he wants is to leave them and move on, but they don't want him to let them go. When Espio runs off on his own, Vector and Charmy must find him.
1. The Rain's Melody

**I haven't written any fanfics in a good while, so I'm a bit nervous. I did some research on the Sonic universe, but I'm not sure how accurate all of it is. If anyone spots a mistake, please let me know so I can learn from it.**

**One more thing, I'm following the English translation of Charmy being six instead of being sixteen for this fanfic.**

Espio watched his calendar closely all year just to prepare for today. Every year on this day, he faced his memories and feelings attached to them taunting him. He didn't like being stuck in the past, but at the same time his problems always put up a big fight.

He closed his eyes tighter, trying to meditate. He wanted to push all the memories and the pain away. He shouldn't had been having much trouble with it, especially since Charmy wasn't pestering him like usual. Heck, even Vector hadn't been bothering him with his blaring music today. In fact, he hadn't seen either of them all day. The only clue he got from their whereabouts was a note on the kitchen table, saying that they had some detective business to attend. Espio thought it was strange that they left him behind and that they woke up before he did. He was the only early bird around the place since Vector and Charmy preferred sleeping in if they had the chance. He wasn't going to complain about having time to himself, though.

He always thought that having their home to himself for the day would be a dream come true. No one to bug him while meditating. No one to eat all his favorite cereal. No one to put the stereo up at an atrocious volume. No one to play a prank him. No one to invade his personal space.

Instead of what he imagined, the entire place felt hollow and empty. He should had been used to it since that was how a large chunk of his life was like. He shook his head, calling himself a whiny idiot. It was all in the past now.

He decided to get up to find something to eat. Maybe food would help him clear his mind. He opened the fridge in the kitchen to hopefully find some leftovers. Unfortunately, someone seemed to had grabbed the last leftover box of take-out they had last night. Sighing, he crouched down to get a red apple.

He took a few bites out of it while he headed for the living room, letting himself plop on the couch. Grabbing the remote control off the small, wooden table next to him, he flipped on the television to start channel surfing. Nothing really good was on, so he chose whatever was the most bearable, the news.

Other than a few burglaries that are common and a vandalized store, nothing too serious was going on, not that Espio wanted something bad to happen. The sound of rain beating on the window like impatient fingers caught his attention. He glanced at the clock hanging on the hall opposite him. It was already four o'clock in the afternoon.

_Where are they? Couldn't they had at least told me where they went?_

When the news ended, he flipped through a few more channels until he came across a movie he already seen. Only a few minutes after he starting watching it, commercials came on. He figured suffering through a few of them couldn't had been too bad, so he decided to stick it out. However, he wasn't counting on seeing a pizza commercial with a family having dinner. Knot filling his stomach, he used the remote to switch the television off.

He just sat there, remembering his so-called family. He never knew his father. He wasn't even around when he hatched.

_"Mommy." Four year old Espio tugged on his mother's sleeve. "What happened to my daddy?"_

_The woman kept sewing the blanket without saying anything. _

_Espio was very confused. Most of the other kid's mothers talked to them a lot of times while he was lucky to get a few words out of his own. _

Espio never really got an answer to his question until around two to three years later.

_"You do realize he left because of you, right?" _

_Espio looked up, surprised that his mother said something. His homemade paper soldiers laid neglected on the floor._

_"Who left?" Espio asked._

_She just stood there with her back facing him, washing dishes. So many minutes passed, Espio wondered if she was going to answer him at all. _

_Drying off her hands with her apron, she said, "If he didn't know about your egg, he wouldn't of left to..."_

_Tossing the rag on the counter, she rushed upstairs. Espio didn't understand what happened too well, but he was still hurt by what his mother did. He cried, the only way he knew to let out the hurt. She spent the rest of the night upstairs, leaving the paper soldiers to be his only company._

Even to this day, he never knew for sure what happened to his father except for some guesses he made with the little information he had. He guessed his father either wandered off and gotten killed or abandoned him and his mother when he was still in the egg. Either way, it left his mother to be a heart broken mess.

Snapping back to reality, Espio realized that he had his hand on the screen door's knob, front door wide open.

_Why did I..._

He removed his hand off it.

_I don't even remember..._

Surveying through the screen door, he felt tempted by the rain. He opened the door and stepped out, letting the screen door slam behind him. He started walking without a planned destination.

The rain felt very great on his skin. He always loved the rain. Not only did it feel nice to him, but the rain seemed to make a soothing melody that was created from tapping on all kinds of different objects.

The few people on the street rushed past him to escape the rain as quickly as possible. Once they were gone, it left Espio alone, giving him a unique feeling of solitude his own home couldn't provide.

The park he passed looked a lot like the one during his childhood, the one that always gave him dread.

_Hiding behind a tree, he checked for anyone ahead of him. He had two options: go through the park and risk them finding him or go completely around the park and risk being late. His mother had already started letting him starve for the night for being late. _

_The cheap, gross slop didn't seem to be worth the risk, but she couldn't afford to give him lunch for school. He already had to rely on finding a wild berry bush in the woods or the garbage for breakfast._

_Gulping, he crept around the tree, camouflaging himself to the best of his ability. He knew it was pointless. They were good at finding him no matter what he attempted, and the snow crunching under his feet gave away his position. His tattered school bag, which couldn't be invisible like him, wasn't helping his situation either._

_Eyes darting around, he kept checking for them. Once he reached the frozen water fountain, he started to sprint. Ahead of him, he saw the park's sign that was his checkpoint. As soon as he reached beyond there, he would be out of the park and a lot closer to home. His heart leapt in joy right when he got past the sign._

_Suddenly he felt someone grab his backpack. Stronger arms wrapped around him to put him in a headlock. His bones felt crushed, his breathing became strained, and his muscles ached._

_Out of the bushes, he saw the older chameleons leave their hiding spots. The blue and oldest one, Nathan, took the lead._

_"Well, well, well." Nathan stood in front of captured Espio. "I'm hurt that you tried to run ahead without giving your buddies a hello. What's wrong? We not good enough for you?"_

_Nathan's group snickered in the background. Even if Espio wasn't being crushed, he would had held his tongue._

_Nathan threw him a punch in the stomach. "C'mon, talk. Don't be rude."_

_Espio tried to let his mind drift off somewhere else. He was really tired of this. Because of them, he was going to be late for supper again._

_"Maybe he's got something stuck in his throat," one of the other chameleons suggested._

_Nathan cupped his own chin thoughtfully. "Hmm, is that so?" _

_"Maybe he needs a drink," another boy suggested._

_"Where are we gonna find him something to drink?" Nathan asked hypothetically, staring around the park. "The pond and fountain is frozen, so that's out." _

_He stared down at the ground. "But there is plenty of snow." Grabbing a handful of snow, he shoved it down Espio's mouth. "Here."_

_The rest of the gang joined in the snow shoving fest. Espio felt like he was drowning, only worse. His aching lungs felt filled with water from the melted snow, making his head spun from lack of oxygen. The bitter cold stabbed his throat repeatably like needles. His heart pumped rapidly in fear of death. Nathan and his thugs lacked limits, but he never thought they'd actually try to kill him._

_Tears ran down his cheeks, making his face feel even colder. After he couldn't take much more, he started to make some coughing sounds._

_"Oh crap, I think he's choking!" one of the chameleons shouted_

_Nathan paused with snow still in his hand. Letting the snow he had drop to ground, he commanded, "Bruno, drop him."_

_Bruno obeyed, joining in at staring down at the younger chameleon curled up in a ball. The realization of nearly suffocating made it even harder for Espio to catch up in his breathing. More tears made the winds pierce his face harder, but he didn't care. All he cared about was being alive._

_Nathan kicked Espio before leaving him alone with his buddies._

_It had been this way since his preschool years three years ago. During the dry times of spring and summer, it was being tossed in a fountain, pond, or river. During the wet times of these seasons, it was either mud being thrown at him or being pushed into it. During the fall, like the dryer times of the first two seasons, it was being pushed in water, only this time it was a lot worse from it being freezing. Winter was practically a free for all. Being pushed in freezing water, being thrown across ice, and throwing snowballs was only a few things they did. Just yesterday, they were repeatably ducking him in a pond with thin ice._

_He stayed lying there for so long that he later caught a case of pneumonia that nearly killed him, even closer than when snow was shoved down his throat._

Espio woke up, standing in front of bridge that led outside the city. Both anger and sorrow hit him at the memory. He wished he had his chance to get back at them for what they did to him. He wished he knew where they were so could hunt them down and get revenge for humiliating him. The sad thing was that he didn't think he would had been able to get himself to do it even if he had the chance. Time numbed up some of the pain he felt in those memories, but they still sometimes hurt a little.

* * *

Vector checked the clock on the wall, snarling. "Where the heck is he?"

Charmy flew over to him, feeling uneasy about finding his friend with his fists balled and teeth gritted. He handed Vector a blue balloon. "Did you call him like you said or did you call the wrong number again?"

Snorting, Vector took the balloon from Charmy. "Not my fault the line directed me to a grouchy old lady."

Rolling his eyes, Charmy took a red balloon to blow. "Whatever you say."

Vector glared at him. "Don't get me started, kid."

Charmy finished his balloon and threw it with the other in the pile. "Fine, fine, don't blow a blood vessel over it. But seriously, did you call him?"

Vector tossed the blown up balloon to the side. "Yes, I did. At least five times, in fact. He didn't answer."

"Maybe he's in the shower?"

"For the last hour and a half?"

"Right...good point."

Tails grabbed the balloons from the pile and flew up to hang them on the wall.

Amy stomped in the room, carrying a bowl of chips. "Did he answer?"

"No," Vector and Charmy said nearly at the same time.

Sighing impatiently, Amy put the bowl with the other food on the long table. She put her now free hands on her hips. "Well, he better call back soon or I'll hunt him down with my hammer."

"Don't you need to save that energy to chase Sonic around all the time?" Vector joked.

Amy threw him a glare.

Vector and Charmy both flinched. They weren't the type of people to get scared too easily, but even they thought Amy could be scary.

Amy's gaze followed Knuckles and Sonic, who walked in with the last of the party food. Placing their stuff next to Amy's, they took a seat on the couch.

"So how much longer do we have to wait?" asked Sonic, leaning back.

Amy got ready to leave the room. "Depends on how long it takes for the numskull to answer the freaking phone."

"What? You mean he didn't answer?"

"That's just what I said." Amy disappeared out of the doorway.

"Now let's not start being hasty," said Knuckles. "He probably has a good reason."

"Believe me-" Vector crossed his arms. "-he's not the type of guy to miss out on our calls."

"You sure he couldn't be doing something that's keeping him from answering?"

"Not sure, but I really doubt it."

"Let's just give him another hour," suggested Sonic. "I mean, we still got a few things to set up, and it will buy us more time."

"Maybe you're right." Vector walked over to the window, staring outside.

While everyone else returned to preparing things, Charmy watched Vector, who wore a thoughtful expression.

**I hope it was at least somewhat decent. Both praise and constructive critism would help.**


	2. Hidden Occupation

**Sorry for the slightly delayed update. If you're wondering about the delay, just check my profile. I will admit I had most of this done over a week ago, but I wanted to take the time to edit it and check a few things.**

**Note About the Canon Being Used: I decided to follow the game canon instead of the Archie comics since I can't gain any access to them, and too many fansites are giving me some mixed information.**

The dirt path became muddy as the rain fell down harder. His shoes made gross noises with each step. Mud stuck to the bottom of his shoe everytime it made contact with the ground. Even something as comfortable as walking in the rain had its consequences.

The trees around him didn't shield him from the rain for too long before it fell through the leaves. The familiar sound of rain beating on leafs was music to his ears. He gazed up to watch the rain fall from the sky and land in his line of vision until it landed on his face.

Halfway through the forest, Espio heard what sounded like creaky wheels. Gazing behind him, he could see a yellow female hedgehog probably in her late twenties driving a carriage. Two brown, strong looking horses pulled the carriage smoothly despite the nasty road condition. Espio walked further to the side to prevent getting in her way.

To his surprise, the woman pulled the carriage to a stop next to him. "Hey kid, need a ride? It's pretty bad out here."

Taking a few seconds to think of a tactful response, he replied, "No thank you. I'm simply taking a stroll to clear my mind. Besides, I could use the exercise."

She blew a brown bang out of her eyes. "Wow...that's a bit strange, no offense. Are you sure, though? The wind's 'bout to pick up and you can catch your death out here."

Espio shook his head. "I'm fine, really."

"Mom, what's going on," a young voice asked.

A yellow hedgehog wearing a bright red rain coat emerged out of the side of the carriage, squishing the mud with his rubber red boots. His fur and hair color matched his mother's, though he had brown eyes instead of green like hers.

"Go inside, Ian," his mother ordered, tightly gripping the reins. "The last thing I need is for you catch the flu or something."

The boy gave Espio a glance out of curiosity before obeying. She focused her gaze on him until he disappeared inside the carriage, making sure he actually did as she said.

Looking back at Espio, she lazily shrugged her shoulders, "He's the curious type. One of these days it's gonna get him in trouble."

Espio nodded like he agreed with her. "Yeah."

A question Espio wanted to ask asked pestered him. He nearly let her swing her reins, signaling the horses to move forward, before he decided to ask. "Wait, I gotta ask something."

The woman looked at him with a content expression. "Yes?"

"What...what's your occupation?"

She cocked her head to the side at him. "Why?"

"Well...just curious, not that you need to tell me. It's a personal question, after all. I'm simply curious."

"Uh, alright I guess. I own a farm with my husband around here. It's not too far from the city, so we make a decent living. Issue is that it's a lot of hard work. If you want, I can show you it sometime."

Strange relief Espio couldn't understand made him feel better. "Maybe, but not today. Thanks anyway."

"Well, I better be off before Mother Nature decides to raise hell. Nice meeting you."

"Yeah, nice meeting you too."

"Heeyah!" The woman gave the reins a swing and sent the carriage in motion.

Espio stood in his spot, watching the carriage turn smaller until it disappeared in the distance.

His chest hurt at being reminded of his mother again. He would never forget when she found out her...real occupation.

_Espio sat in the corner of his tiny room drawing pictures. Not much paper was available, so he had to use it wisely. He wished he had crayons like some other kids at school to at least flesh out the picture and breath life into it, but the first important lesson of being poor was that you couldn't be too picky with the little you get._

_Night already came outside, and there was only a dim candle on the small oak table to help Espio see what he was doing. He really wanted to go downstairs, but his mother told him to not leave his room under any circumstances until she came to get him._

_Several minutes passed before Espio started to get anxious and curious. His room felt even smaller as he started to run out of things to do. He ran out of space on his paper, and his overlapping doodles were turning into unrecognizable messes._

_His stomach grumbled from eating very little dinner; his mother had to shorten his ration to make the food last to her next pay. The thought of sneaking into the kitchen to scavenger for any crumb of food tempted him, but fear delayed him for a while._

_After a lot of thought, he decided to go straight to the kitchen and avoid his mother. He figured if she didn't see him he wouldn't be ruining whatever she did on these nights. Espio had to sneak out of his window instead of his door because his mother usually locked it whenever she sent him up there._

_Cringing at his creaking window, he opened it and stepped out. These were one of the few occasions he was thankful he was a reptile instead of a mammal because it was handy when it came to climbing down a fragile roof. He had to descend with caution to prevent breaking off pieces of the ancient roof and giving away his plan. _

_Espio had to stand in front of his front door for a few moments before he gained enough courage to open the loud, creaky door. At snail's pace, he went into the house, almost freaking out over the door creaking again. _

_Downstairs was completely dark except for the light slivering under his mother's bedroom door. He never understood why his mother preferred having a bedroom on this floor instead of the upper floor, especially since most of the rooms on this floor was a little worse than the upper ones._

_Praying that his mother was asleep or very occupied, he headed to the kitchen across the living room. The floor boards moaned under his weight with each stop, making him almost angry at wood in general for trying to get him caught._

_The only thing lighting the kitchen was the bright moonlight through the window above the sink. To prevent giving himself away, he avoided lighting some candles kept in case the electric company cut off their power for skipping on the bill. _

_With a lot of groping around, he managed to find the small ice box and propped it open. The only thing in there was a small container with some casserole. His stomach roared for him to sneak it up his room. He almost wanted to bawl as he realized that his mother would most likely notice it missing and probably shorten his next portion further._

_Espio hoped that there was a berry bush somewhere in the backyard. A loud moan echoed off the silent house just as Espio was getting ready to go through the back door. A chilly feeling ran through his body while he slowly returned to the living room. Another moan followed, this time easily traced to his mother's room. Fear punched him in the gut when thoughts of his mother speeded past him._

_"M-mommy?" Espio called out, making his way toward the door. _

_No answer followed except a faint hint of a masculine voice. He never knew his mother's male friends that well, but she usually brought them over for a visit on a nightly basis. The only time he had the chance to get much on them was a few very brief glimpses of them while his mother shuffled him up the stairs and hearing voices downstairs once in a while._

_A knot formed while deep thoughts swirled in his mind. _

_Are one of male friend's hurting her? he wondered. Would they really do that?_

_A little shuffling inside followed, scaring Espio enough to fling the door open and rush inside._

_"Mommy!" _

_If shock hadn't closed his throat, he would had shrieked. His mother lay on her bed with her dress unbuttoned, revealing her lacy bra. A orange chameleon probably twice her senior hovered over her with his face buried into her neck, wearing nothing but boxers._

_His mother already noticed his intrusion, rewarding him with a look of wide eyed horror. The male, however, was too buried in her to pay attention to the world around him._

_Anger burned his body at a ferocious degree, balling up his fists and making his eyes narrow until they couldn't go any further. Dark thoughts took control of his body enough to turn him into a charging, mindless animal. _

_Beating and kicking the man with all his strength, he screamed, "Get off of her! Let her go!"_

_Espio may not had been the strongest chameleon at his school, but he had enough rage and strength to harm him. Sliding off of her, the man landed on his feet and raised his fist to strike. Espio was about to charge at him again when his mother grabbed his arms, restraining him._

_"Espio, stop," she commanded in a sharp tone. _

_Her tone startled him out of his firing state. He stood there in a daze, thinking about everything he saw. The man was already completely dressed by the time he finished his thoughts._

_"Please..." His mother released Espio to go over to the man as he walked to the door. "Please, forgive us. He didn't mean-"_

_Now standing at the doorway, he narrowed his eyes at her as he looked over his shoulder. "I came here to get some, not get a beating from a little piece of shit. You can forget aboout getting payed for now on."_

_With her back facing Espio, his mother watched the man leave, possibly counting every step he took until she heard a door slam. Espio grew scared as he realized he probably scared away one of her friends for good._

_"I-I'm sorry." He nervously approached her. "I thought he was hurting you and...and..."_

_A burning pain smacked him across the face, knocking him backward. The hard floor made his body ache and his cheek throbbed while he lied there in shock. Pressing his hand to his hurt cheek to help relieve it, he stared up at his mother. Tears built in her eyes, she lowered her hand after preparing to strike him again, her lips quivering._

_"Don't you realize what you done!" she shouted. "He was a regular and you scared him off. Because of you, we're gonna be even poorer. We're gonna starve because of you."_

_His mother threw herself on her bed, sobbing into her pillow. Her shoulders moved up and down with each sob. Her dark blue dress' strap hung off her shoulder. Espio even noticed her make-up was smeared the one time she lifted her head enough to get a good glance._

_Throbbing in his heart made him want to comfort her, but he didn't know what to do. He didn't even understand what happened. Tears formed in his own eyes when he watched her helplessly. _

_To prevent making things worse, he left her there and returned to his room. By the time he climbed in his bed, he realized he wasn't hungry anymore._

Disgust filled his stomach every time he remembered that night. He wished he found out without actually having to see it at a young age, especially eight. He would had found out either way because the kids at his school teased him about it a lot.

_A month nearly passed since he saw his mother with that man. Time never seemed to pass quickly enough. He focused on drawing pictures at the picnic table in the playground's isolated corner. All he wanted was for that memory to fade like an old crayon drawing._

_Ever since that night, his mother had been colder to him than ever. With gestures and the feeling he felt around her, he sensed her hard feelings toward him. _

_She was right about them being poorer. She even shortened his ration during dinner._

_The recess teacher left the playground to get something, leaving his classmates alone. No one bothered him today, but felt people giving him weird looks. None of them really liked him that much, though he never knew why for sure. However, they had avoided him even further this past month. He lost count of how many times his peers, teachers, and other kids' parents abruptly stopped talking when he passed them or entered a room._

_He was in the middle of coloring his sea with his blue-green crayon when shadows loomed over the drawing. Glancing up, he saw Nathan and a couple older students he never really knew too well staring down at him. Nathan and the kids were a couple grades ahead of him, making them nearly twice his size. _

_"What'cha working on?" Nathan asked with his usual jeering grin._

_Deciding that talking to him would only encourage him, Espio returned to his drawing. It wasn't long before Nathan grabbed the paper and crumbled it up into a wad, tossing it in the nearest wastebasket. Frowning, Espio grabbed another piece of paper and started another drawing. None of this was really new to him._

_Feeling the wooden bench shake a little, he knew the other kids took their seats around him. He focused his attention to the paper, praying that his teacher would return soon. _

_"So I hear ya mom's gotten into a bit of trouble with one of the men in Scarlet Garden," a green male chameleon, whose name Espio could never remember, said._

_Scarlet Garden was an area outside his town covered with fancy houses and mansions the upper class lived in. He never knew how it received its name other than to sound fancy._

_"Yeah, didn't she, like, try to sell herself to him or something?" the other chameleon, a female said._

_Espio felt his grip tighten around his crayon, though he managed to keep it moving. He didn't know what she meant by having his mother sell herself, but all he needed know was that it was dirty by the tone the girl used._

_"Oh, so it wasn't just a rumor Bro made up," the green chameleon commented._

_"And I heard a certain little squirt tried to beat him up," Nathan said._

_Espio's hand wrapped around the crayon tighter, nearly snapping it in two._

_"So did you see anything?" Nathan asked, putting his face close to Espio's. "If so, that would be a shame for you to see your mom screwing-"_

_Espio stood up from his seat, ready to spout out the phrase he heard his mother say on the phone once. "You know what? Fu..."_

_Unfornuately for Espio, the recess teacher was passing him when he finished his curse._

_A month of detention followed. _

What he said made Nathan beat him up worse after school, but it felt good to finally tell him off.

* * *

"No, no, no!" Amy shouted, shaking her fists. "I wanted you to hang those above the snack table, not the the dinner table!"

Sonic, standing on a ladder, quietly sighed to himself.

Knuckles, on the other hand, wasn't so willing to take it lying down. "Well, next time be more specific. We're not blasted mind readers."

"I specifically said where to put it." Amy buried her face in her hands. "At this rate, we're never gonna get done in time."

Knuckles slid down from his own ladder. "Why don't you do it yourself if you can do so much better?"

"Why don't you take that ladder and shove it up your-"

"Guys!" Sonic exclaimed. "I know everyone's getting stressed with this work, but no need to toss around harsh words. What if a kid walks in?"

Amy and Knuckles glared at each other for a short while before they returned to decorating, mumbling what they wanted to say to each other. Sonic nearly wanted to put his super speed to good use and escape from this job. Problem was that he worried leaving Amy and Knuckles alone gave them permission to jump at each other's throats. Now he understood why Tails always hated to be their referee for all their arguments.

Not many things delayed preparations, though the time and effort it took was already affecting everyone's mood, even his own carefree self's. It was a miracle Knuckles hadn't shredded something, stomped out, and called it quits. Poor Tails had it worse than most of the others, being relied on for things involving higher places (Charmy helped a lot too, but Tails could carry a little more than him). Worst of all, decorating in general turned Amy into a loud, irritable, perfection obsessed dictator.

"Move over, Sonic," Amy commanded, standing in front of the ladder. "I'm not in the mood to move it where it should had been, so I'll just settle with its current location."

Sonic climbed down, thankful for finally getting a break. He watched Amy climb up, hang up her half of the sign, and check for any loose attachments. No matter how much he and Knuckles would hate to admit, she did what took them around fifteen minutes in less than three.

Charmy flew in from the living room, carrying a small box of other party supplies that still needed to be used. "Did you guys need my help with something?"

"Naw," Sonic replied. "We got it."

"_I_ got it," Amy corrected, climbing down.

"That's good, I guess," said Charmy. "Thanks again for the help, guys. Espio can be a bit of a grouch about parties, but I'm sure he'll love all this."

"With us having to put up with her loud voice," Knuckles began, pointing at Amy, "he better."

Glaring, Amy retorted, "I'm this close--" Amy used her thumb and index finger to measure it. "--to putting my hammer to good use."

Luckily, Vector came in before Knuckles could comment. "You guys finished the kitchen?"

"Yep." Sonic went into the living room to take a short break.

"Speaking of Espio, have you tried to call him again?" Knuckles asked, leaping off the ladder and landing perfectly.

"Yeah, but still no answer. I even left him a message on his voicemail."

Amy narrowed her eyes at Vector. "Please tell me he at least said where he was on his voicemail."

"Let's just give him another half hour," said Knuckles. "In the meantime, he can take a break now that everything is nearly ready."

Vector nodded and exited the kitchen to sit on the comfy red armchair in the living room. Charmy followed quietly, what would had been considered a miracle by Vector's standards if he bothered to pay attention, and hovered around him anxiously.

"Vector, I'm worried," Charmy increased his pace as he flew circles around Vector. "You sure we shouldn't at least check on the house."

Rubbing his forehead in frustration, Vector replied, "Let's just wait a little while longer. We all could use a break right now."

"But what if he doesn't return the call?"

"Then we'll check on him ourselves after we wait. Now just relax. He's a big boy and can take care of himself. I doubt he'd want you to lose your cool over him."

"O-okay..." Charmy still paced around the living room despite Vector's assurance. If he had to wait, he could at least try to blow off some steam.

In spite of hating to admit it, Vector's stomach gained a big knot or two. Even sitting started to feel difficult for him. Grabbing his headphones off the tall table next to him, Vector tuned in with whatever music he had programmed into it. With every beat, his foot tapped against the carpet.

Leaning against his palms on a the armchair next to them, Sonic watched the two with only one eye cracked open. If they were trying to hide their anxiety, they were doing a terrible job of it.

**If you spot any mistakes, especially grammar and spelling mistakes, please let me know. My mind has been off due to a lot of stress I'm having this week, so my writing might be a bit off. It doesn't help I haven't had as much time to develop this chapter as the previous one. Some of the future chapters should be better.**

**Feedback is appreciated.**


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